Walgreens CEO Roz Brewer to Leaders: Put Your Phones Away and Listen to Employees

Rosalind Brewer, one of only two Black female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, has had a series of top jobs at Sam’s Club, Starbucks, Walmart, and now at Walgreens Boots Alliance. She talks about the challenges of walking into a new company or industry and projecting the confidence you need to be able to do your job from day one. She says starts by putting yourself in a learning position before you even take a leadership position. She’s worked the drive-thru at Starbucks and dug deep into trucking logistics at Walmart. “I was willing to take a step down to go much further, and then that’s when my career began to really explode. I was in a learning mode, but I took a step back to get ahead.”